The market has been expanded for nonvolatile memory elements in which data can be electrically rewritten and can be stored even after the power is turned off. Such nonvolatile memory elements have a structure similar to that of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), in which a charge accumulation layer capable of accumulating charges for a long time is provided between a channel formation region and a control gate. A silicon-based semiconductor material has been known as a semiconductor material for forming a channel formation region which can be applied to the nonvolatile memory element (Patent Document 1).